Russian military hardware to be used in Indian Republic Day parades

NEW DELHI, January 26, 1:14 /ITAR-TASS/. Military parades will be held in the Indian capital and the city of Mumbai on Sunday to mark the Republic Day, one of India’s main national holidays. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who is on a visit to New Delhi will attend the celebrations as an honorary guest.

The Indian Defence Ministry reports that military hardware which India has received from Russia will be actively used in the parade in New Delhi that will take place between the Presidential Palace and the India Gate memorial arch. Indian pilots will perform aerobatics stunts on five Su-30MKI and five MiG-26 fighter jets. Mi-17-B5 and Mi-35 helicopters will fly over the parade columns. Concurrently, a mobile platform carrying Russian Su-30MKI models and India’s light combat aircraft Tejas will move along the Rajpath road.

The Indian armed forces will demonstrate T-72 and T-90 tanks handed over by Russia, BMP -2 combat infantry vehicles as well as the Indian-built Arjun tank. BrahMos cruise missiles, which India has produced jointly with Russia, will move along the Rajpath road on a platform just as the Soviet-made Smerch heavy multiple rocket launchers as well as the OSA automated anti-aircraft missile system. A parade would not be a parade without its traditional participants - the Indian border police that demonstrate exhibition performances on motorcycles and a military orchestra on camels from the northwestern state of Rajasthan. Camels have served in the Indian army since the times when Indian was a British colony.

Up to 15,000 policemen will guard law and order in the city center to avert possible terrorist acts, a New Delhi police source told Itar-Tass.

In Mumbai, the Marine Drive embankment where the most expensive hotels and shops are located has been chosen as a parade venue for the first time this year. Fighter aircraft, including Su-30MKI, will accompany the ground parade.

The Republic Day, which is a day off in India, has been marked annually since January 26, 1950 when the Indian Constitution came in force.